This application claims priority under 35 U.S.C. xc2xa7xc2xa7119 and/or 365 to 2000-020252 filed in Japan on Jan. 28, 2000; the entire content of which is hereby incorporated by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hanger recycling system for forming recycled hangers from a thermoplastic polyester resin material that employs used PET bottles as the raw material, wherein these recycled hangers are not disposed of as refuse, but rather can themselves be readily reutilized as raw material for new recycled hangers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional synthetic resin hangers are often formed of polyethylene, polypropylene or the like. Once dirty, damaged or no longer needed, these hangers are frequently discarded as refuse.
At the same time, serious investigation has been directed to reutilizing used PET bottles with an eye toward decreasing garbage waste.
A large number of synthetic resin hangers which are provided by dry-cleaning stores, etc., to customers are frequently discarded as refuse, however. Similarly, only a portion of used PET bottles are actually recycled. Thus, a sufficient solution has not been achieved.
Accordingly, the present invention was conceived with the goal of more effectively utilizing used PET bottles as a resource and reducing waste by linking together reutilization of the used PET bottles with hangers, large numbers of which until now have been disposed of as refuse. Namely, the present invention provides a recycling system for hangers formed of a thermoplastic polyester resin material in which the used PET bottles are employed as the raw material for the hangers, and are supplied to a hanger manufacturer from PET bottle collectors such as supermarkets, waste incineration plants, and autonomous agencies. Recycled hangers are manufactured by the manufacturer and supplied to such hanger providers as dry-cleaning stores and apparel makers. The recycled hangers supplied to the providers are provided to such hanger users as department stores and consumers. At the same time, the recycled hangers that become dirty, damaged or are no longer needed by the users are sent to the providers. Once the recycled hangers from the users, as well as the recycled hangers that become dirty, damaged or are no longer needed at the providers, have accumulated to a certain degree, the providers sends them to the manufacturer. These recycled hangers are then reutilized as raw material for new hangers.
The hanger recycling system can employ a means wherein, at the hanger manufacturer, the used PET bottles employed as raw material for the hangers are subjected to a pretreating step, a cutting step, a sorting step, a crushing step, a washing step, a drying step and a fabricating step, to form the recycled hangers, and the recycled hangers sent from the providers to the manufacturer to be used as raw material for new hangers are subjected to the crushing step, the washing step, the drying step and the fabricating step, to form recycled hangers.
Furthermore, the hanger recycling system can employ a means wherein the operations of removing the cap and peeling off the label from the used PET bottles are performed in the pretreating step; the operations of cutting off the mouth portion of the PET bottle and primary cutting of the remainder of the PET bottle are performed in the cutting step; the severed mouth portions are removing in the sorting step; the remainder of the primary cut PET bottles are finely crushed in the crushing step; the crushed pieces are degreased, and washed with water and warm water in the washing step; the warm-water washed crushed pieces are dried in the drying step; and the dried crushed pieces are used to fabricate recycled hangers in the fabricating step.